Layered cooking allows two or more courses of a meal to be cooked simultaneously in the same device. This can be very helpful, since only a single burner or skillet is required to cook an entire meal. This type of device thereby saves both cooking space and time in clean-up.
There are a number of examples of layered cooking devices in the patent literature. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,641,926 (Williams et al.); 3,859,505 (Herbrand et al.); 4,528,975 (Wang); 4,334,462 (Hefling); and 4,495,860 (Hitch et al.) depict a few of these devices. Williams and Herbrand make use of perforated surfaces to allow the flow of heat from one cooking layer to another. Hitch and Hefling incorporate wire racks or grates to support food within free-standing cooking apparatus, thereby accommodating multiple-level cooking. Wang makes use of a wire rack with terraced risers to support several cooking receptacles at different levels within one utensil.
There are also devices in the prior art that allow the cooking of multiple food simultaneously, but in nonlayered fashion. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,148,737 (Poulson) and 5,275,094 (Naft) provide for direct proximity between each food container and the heat source by means of rotation or side-by-side design of food compartments.
The prior art also includes various patents for devices used as steamers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,486 (Lee) incorporates a collapsible perforated basket for holding food and U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,017 (Bowen) makes use of apertures and slots to provide for the passage of steam from the heat source to the food compartment.
The prior art also includes patents for rack cooking designs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,455 (Colato et al.) incorporates a free-standing rack design with adjustable legs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,832 (Fukumoto) provides for rack adjustment level in a microwave oven through the use of multi-level supporting pieces.
Despite the various types of multi-level cookware devices in the prior art, all of them are somewhat limited in their flexibility. For example, many of these designs do not allow layered or nonlayered cooking at the user's option. In other words, the choice of layers and the size of food compartments are often not adjustable. Furthermore, in those designs where use or nonuse of layered cooking is optional, the layers can only be used at a fixed level. A design that allows greater space between layers at the user's option is desirable. Multiple combinations of possibilities to accommodate different types of cooking or foods are not generally available in a single cooking unit.
Yet another undesirable aspect of layered cooking devices in the prior art is that generally only one type of layer is possible. Most of these devices either incorporate perforations in a dish-like unit or the use of wire racks. In fact, since different types of foods are cooked better on one option or the other, it is preferable to have the choice of using either in the same device.
Still another shortcoming of known multiple food cooking devices is that the size of food compartments may not accommodate the size of a food which the user desires to cook. In this respect, layered cooking which allows the full size of the cooking surface to be used for each layer is preferable.
Most of the support structures of the prior art devices also do not accommodate multiple configurations of layered cooking. Such fixed configurations are not "user friendly" because they do not provide for multiple possibilities to accommodate the need for different food types. Furthermore, none of the devices of the prior art provide for easy disassembly and a pivotal support system which may be collapsed and removed for easy storage or nonuse.
An improved stackable skillet overcoming some of the problems and disadvantages of the prior art by allowing multi-level cooking in an easily adjustable device having collapsible and removable support structure would be an important advance in the art. Furthermore, a multi-level cooking system by which the sides of the device are extended to allow for a deeper cooking compartment is an important advance in the art. Additionally, it is an important advance in the art to have a multi-level cooking device with many possible configurations which are readily adaptable to the user's particular cooking needs at any given time.